Abstract
Force Sensing Resistors (FSRs) are manufactured from a blend of conductive nanoparticles dispersed in an insulating polymer matrix. FSRs exhibit large amounts of hysteresis and drift error, but currently, a great effort is placed on improving their performance through different techniques applied during sensor manufacturing. In this article, a novel technique for improving the performance of FSRs is presented; the method can be applied to already-manufactured sensors, which is a clear benefit of the proposed procedure. The method is based on driving the sensors with a modified-astable 555 oscillator, in which the oscillation frequency is set from the sensor’s capacitance and resistance. Considering that the sensor’s capacitance and resistance have opposite signs in the drift characteristic, the driving circuit provides self-compensated force measurements over extended periods of time. The feasibility of the driving circuit to reduce hysteresis and to avoid sensitivity degradation is also tested. In order to obtain representative results, the experimental measurements from this study were performed over eight FlexiForce A201-25 sensors.
Highlights
Force Sensing Resistors (FSRs) offer versatile and cost-effective force readings to applications with space and weight constraints
FSRs can be fashioned into multiple shapes and dimensions to fulfill the requirements of a given final application [1,2,3]; this can be done by cutting the nanocomposite film after the production process is done, followed by electrode positioning and wiring to assemble the final force sensor [4]
With the aim of obtaining representative results, the experimental data from this study were collected from eight FlexiForce A201-25 sensors (Tekscan, Inc., Boston, MA, USA) manufactured from an elastomeric polymer, as the insulating phase, and carbon black nanoparticles as the conductive phase [23,24]
Summary
Force Sensing Resistors (FSRs) offer versatile and cost-effective force readings to applications with space and weight constraints. Electronics 2018, 7, 146 the total resistance of an FSR (RFSR ) can be computed from the series and parallel connections of Ri c and Ri bulk , yielding Rc, and Rbulk ; see Figure 1d. From the standpoint of a final user, the physical model aims to design the most appropriate driving circuit that maximizes the sensors’ performance Based on the latter statement, the target of this study is to design and test a driving circuit that minimizes—or even removes—most of the error sources of FSRs, where drift, hysteresis, and sensitivity degradation are the most important error sources. With the aim of obtaining representative results, the experimental data from this study were collected from eight FlexiForce A201-25 sensors (Tekscan, Inc., Boston, MA, USA) manufactured from an elastomeric polymer, as the insulating phase, and carbon black nanoparticles as the conductive phase [23,24]
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